Wildflowers
by Bridgid Comora
Summary: Halt has a mallet trying to drive a wedge into his head, so it's only natural for his apprentice to unintentionally make a huge amount of noise, but of course, he cares more than enough to make it up. Set during Will's apprenticeship, slight Father/son!Halt/Will.
1. Chapter 1

Halt felt as if a wedge was helpfully assisting a large wooden mallet in its valiant efforts split his skull in two.

Accordingly, he was not particularly happy when Will, whistling cheerfully, stepped into the cabin, allowing the heavy wooden door to swing shut behind him with a loud thud. He groaned softly over the paperwork he was supposed to be reading and closed his eyes for a moment, seeing white circles dance before them. He shook his head, trying to clear it, and a rush of agony hit him with such ferocity that he grunted in pain before he could stop himself.

"Halt? Are you alright?" He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, but he was too exhausted to be particularly embarrassed. "Yes, can't you see, I'm practically dancing on the ceiling", he muttered, wincing slightly as each word drove the wedge deeper into his skull. Halt decided it was probably a cast-iron war hammer hitting it, not a wooden mallet.

Will put his other hand on the Ranger's spare shoulder, gently rubbing them. He hurriedly removed them as the older man grunted in agony. "I'm sorry", he said quietly. There was no reply, but he hadn't been expecting one. Will paused. He had taken care of quite a bit of fieldwork after the incident with the Kalkara; forms were nothing compared to that. He took a slow breath, mentally preparing to give his mentor orders.

"Halt, I think you should get some rest." He tried to say it quietly, but with an air of calm authority. He was not sure it worked, especially when the older Ranger protested, as he'd known he would.

"I've got work to do! I can't just go and leave it there." Halt tried to say it firmly, but that caused another wave of agony and he grunted again, his hands going to his head in an ineffectual attempt to stop the pain. He blinked several times and forced his eyes open, seeing the blurred shape of his concerned apprentice. "I'll do it", Will said firmly, then his voice softened as he quietly added "please."

It was the last word that did it, of course. Trying to convince himself he was simply doing this to get his apprentice to stop bothering him, he forced himself to stand, dropping his quill onto the desk as he did so, leaving spots on ink on the weathered desk as it rolled slightly in a circle.

It must have been Will's trained instincts that first realised Halt was going to fall. He moved just in time, catching the older Ranger as his legs buckled. "No need to apologise", he said gently, pre-empting his mentor's words. He half-dragged, half-supported Halt to his room, quietly pulling the rough blankets over him. He paused as he watched his mentor stir feebly. He'd attend to the paperwork in a minute, but there was one more thing he had to do.

When Halt woke, his body aching and his head still giving the occasional stab of pain, he glanced towards the window to check the sun's position, but as he did so, two things on the stool by his bed caught his eye. A glass of water, and a vase of wildflowers.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N Thanks to the wonderful anon who asked me to keep going, and for all the just as wonderful people who reviewed, and *excited squeal* faved and followed! Dedicated to you guys (of course). And, big oopsie, I forgot the disclaimer last chapter. Here we go: I do not own RA, Halt, Will, or the Rangers. The former is the property of one J. Flanagan, and the others belong to no-one, being HUMAN BEINGS. I do not approve of slavery, people.**_

Will was just putting two steaming mugs of coffee on the weathered oaken table when Halt emerged into the room, wearing a face that showed quite clearly that if Will even mentioned the events of last night he would end up shooting two hundred arrows at speed and running twenty kilometres in the following eight hours.

Unfortunately, his face also showed quite clearly that Halt was not in much of a better state than the aforementioned previous night. He had dark shadows under his eyes, contrasting sharply with his pallid face, and Will noted his hand had a tremor in it as he sat down and grasped the coffee mug with a grunt of thanks and raised it to his lips, momentarily ignoring the bacon, eggs and toast Will had cooked.

Despite Halt drinking two mugs of coffee, he picked at his food, glaring at Will as he opened his mouth to express his concern. Will closed his mouth quickly, but was still worried enough to wash the plates outside the cabin, instead of downstream as he usually did, to keep an eye on his mentor.

That was a good thing, too, as, half-way through scouring the pan he'd cooked the meal in, he heard a slight sound from the cabin. It was something not many people would notice, but Will, attuned to the sound spectrum of the forest, heard it and instantly knew it was out of place.

It was the sound of Halt crumpling to the floor, unconscious.

 _ **Yep, I'm cruel. But then, most of us authors are. Thanks again to everyone. hands out cookies with optional coffee***_


End file.
